The Blauwwind wind farm, located 22km off the coast of the Netherlands, has successfully reached financial close. Mott MacDonald is lenders’ technical advisor on the project and will now provide construction and operation monitoring services in an ongoing role.
With a total installed capacity of 731.5MW, Blauwwind will be able to power approximately 800,000 homes annually. It will comprise 77 MHI Vestas V164-9.5 MW wind turbine generators, the largest wind turbines currently in production. Other features include a 66kV inter-array cable grid, offshore substation and mainland grid connection, which will be provided by TenneT, the national electricity transmission system operator of the Netherlands.
As lenders’ technical advisor, Mott MacDonald performed a technical due diligence review of the project which assessed potential technical risks and proposed suitable mitigations for these. This included analysing the project’s financial model, design, contractual arrangements, execution and operating strategies, as well as its energy yield and environmental and social assessments.
Will Lamond, Mott MacDonald’s project manager, said: “Blauwwind is a significant step in the move towards decreasing costs of constructing and operating offshore wind projects, with a significantly lower tariff than previous project financed deals. Our knowledge and experience in delivering wind energy solutions was key as we worked closely with the Blauwwind team, their lenders and other advisors, to help deliver a successful deal.”
The Blauwwind Development Project Director, Erik de Boer, notes: “Mott MacDonald’s ongoing scrutiny and feedback regarding technical aspects of our project helped ensure that we presented a high quality bankable project to the finance community, which in turn allowed for very efficient execution towards financial close.”
The Blauwwind wind farm is expected to become operational in 2020.
